1st Edition
The Rise of Transtexts Challenges and Opportunities
This volume builds on previous notions of transmedia practices to develop the concept of transtexts, in order to account for both the industrial and user-generated contributions to the cross-media expansion of a story universe. On the one hand exists industrial transmedia texts, produced by supposedly authoritative authors or entities and directed to active audiences in the aim of fostering engagement. On the other hand are fan-produced transmedia texts, primarily intended for fellow members of the fan communities, with the Internet allowing for connections and collaboration between fans. Through both case studies and more general analyses of audience participation and reception, employing the artistic, marketing, textual, industrial, cultural, social, geographical, technological, historical, financial and legal perspectives, this multidisciplinary collection aims to expand our understanding of both transmedia storytelling and fan-produced transmedia texts.
Foreword: Transmedia Storytelling and Free Labour
Toby Miller
The Continued Rise and Impact of Transtexts: An Introduction
Benjamin W.L. Derhy Kurtz and Mélanie Bourdaa
Part I
Rethinking Transmedia:
History and Typology of Transtexts
1. Historicizing Transmedia and Transtexts
Denzell Richards
2. Still Searching for the Unicorn: Transmedia Storytelling and the Audience Question
Aaron Delwiche
3. Texture, Realism, Performance: Exploring the Intersection of Transtexts and the Contemporary Sitcom
Benjamin W.L. Derhy Kurtz and Simone Knox
Use and Reception by Engaged Audiences
4. Transmedia and the Fantext
Louisa Ellen Stein
5. ‘I am not a tribute’: the Transmedia Strategy of The Hunger Games vs. Fans’ Activism
Mélanie Bourdaa
6. Set in Stone: Issues of Canonicity of Transtexts
Benjamin W.L. Derhy Kurtz
7. Star Trek Into Divisiveness: The Transmedia Successes and Failures of ‘Star Trek: The Videogame’
Matt Hills
Part II
Through the Looking-Glass:
Transmediating Text-Brands
8. Growing Stories into Vast Transmedia Mythologies through Narrative Design and Narrative Architecture
Geoffrey Long
9. Bioshock: Rapture through Transmedia
Paul Booth
10. Pro Wrestling's Immersive Story World and the Potentials of Transmedia Storytelling
Sam Ford
The Industry behind Transtexts
11. Considering Transtexts as Brands
Hélène Laurichesse
12. Let’s Talk About Texts, Baby: Proposing a New Model for Copyright in a Transtext World
Jennifer Jacobs Henderson
13. Transmedia Logics and Locations
Henry Jenkins
Biography
Benjamin W.L. Derhy Kurtz teaches at Sorbonne Nouvelle, Sciences Po (IEP) and Ecole Polytechnique, as well as at various communication and business schools. He created undergraduates/postgraduates courses, including on Transmedia, and holds experience in marketing and in institutional/promotional/political communication. His PhD, at the University of East Anglia, explored ‘success’ in the TV industry. http://Derhy.TV
Mélanie Bourdaa is Associate Professor of Communication and Information Sciences at the University of Bourdeaux, France
"The discussions of transmediation are about to enter their adolescence and this book is a proof of this. It constitutes a fruitful dialogue between some of the seminal authors of transmedia studies to this day and as a whole makes a compelling case for not only the continuing importance of studying the complex storytelling practices of the convergence era, but demonstrates the many conflicts and tensions inherent to these practices as well as to the associated academic discourse." - Indrek Ibrus, University of Tallinn, Estonia